Machine for preparing fibers for spinning.



No. 896,437. .PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908.

M. COLLINS. MAUHINE FOR PREPARING FIBERS FOR SPINNING.

APPLICATION FILED OGT. 9, 1907.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL COLLINS, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR PREPARING FIBERS FOR SPINNING.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, M CHAEL CoLLINs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Preparing Fibers for Spinning, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention is in the nature of an improvement upon the invention which constitutes the subject of my United States Letters Patent for improvements in machines for preparing fibers for spinning, dated September 24, 1907, No. 866,918.

The general object of the prior invention is to attain improved results in a preparing machine for textile fibers in cleaning fibers from foreign and defective matters, combing and straightening the fibers, and carrying them forward from the devices by which they are fed and also are held while being cleaned and combed.

The said prior invention consists in a cleaning cylinder having the periphery there of furnished with toothed clothing having the teeth formed in part with faces which rake back from the advancing surface of the cylinder, to operate as cleaning and combing teeth, and in part with faces which rake forward, or point radially from the surface of the cylinder, as preferred, to act as carrying teeth. In the particular embodiment of the prior invention which is shown in the application aforesaid, the teeth in question are formed on different flat strips or wires, one form of teeth on one strip or wire and the other form on another, these strips or wires being applied to the body of the cylinder by winding them side by side in spiral grooves extending around the said body. The cleaning cylinder aforesaid is shown combined with feeding devices comprising a feed-roll and a feed-plate of usual character. The said feed-roll is arranged to advance the fibers to the teeth of the said cylinder, which operate on the advancing fibers, and the feed-plate is also arranged to support them against the action of the said teeth. The cleaning teeth are not intended to carry the fibers forward, but are designed to comb from them seed, leaf, motes, and other foreign or defective matter, and to straighten Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 9, 1907.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Serial No. 396,568.

the fibers. The carrying teeth, after one revolution of the cylinder, follow in the path of the cleaning teeth, and are intended to pass freely between the cleaned fibers and to carry the latter, when released by the feeding devices, to the succeeding cylinder of the machine.

In the use of the prior invention I have observed in some instances in the case of the drawing teeth a tendency to take hold of foreign matters and tangled fibers and carry the same forward to the succeeding cylinder of the machine, which is undesirable.

The present invention is designed for the attainment of the same general results as the prior invention. In addition, it has for its special object to obviate the undesirable tendency to which reference has just been made. To this end, I arrange cleaning teeth and carrying teeth in such relation to one another that a cleaning tooth shall also constitute a guard or shield to a carrying tooth, and operate to prevent the latter from engaging with the foreign matters found among the fibers, or with tangled fibers.

The invention comprises, therefore, a cleaning cylinder having the periphery thereof provided with teeth arranged as just specified. Also, a toothed strip or wire having the said teeth, thus arranged, formed thereon. As in the case of the prior invention, the cylinder in question is designed, more particularly, to be used at the entering end of a preparing machine in combination with a feed-roll and a feed-plate cooperating together in feeding or advancing the fibers to the said cylinder, and in holding them while being acted. uponby the cylinder and until delivered. up to the latter, but may be employed at an intermediate point in the machine, or in combination with other means for feeding or advancing the fibers gradually and holding them while being acted upon by the cylinder and until delivered up to the latter.

The invention is illustrated in the drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a carding engine, at the feeding end of the latter. Fi 2 shows in side elevation a short length of saw-toothed strip or wire formed with cleaning or combing teeth in conformity with the prior invention. Fig. 3 shows in side elevation a short length of saw-toothed with the addition that the tooth 31 guards strip or wire formed with carrying teeth, in conformity with the said prior invention. Fig. 4 shows a portion of the periphery of a cylinder having applied thereto the two forms of teeth which'are represented in Figs. 2 and 3, all in conformity with the prior in vention. Fig. 5 shows in side elevation a short length of saw-toothed strip or wire formed with backwardly raking cleaning teeth immediately in front of forwardly raking carrying teeth, to act as guards for the latter, in conformity with the present invention. Fig. 6 shows a portion of the periphery of a cylinder having wound thereon a strip or wire formed as in Fig. 5 in alternate turns or coils with strip or wire formed as in Fig. 2.

Having reference to the drawings,in Fig. 1, the feeding devices of a carding engine are shown at 1, 2, the feed-plate being designated 1 and 2 being the feed-roll. At 3 is designated a licker-in cylinder, and at 4 is indicated a portion of the main cylinder. The periphery of the feed-roll 2, and the toothed clothing of the licker-in cylinder 3 and main cylinder 4, are indicated by dotted lines. At 5 is a straight-edge employed in connection with the toothed surface of the licker-in cylinder, and at 6 is the screen beneath the licker-in cylinder. All of these parts are or may be arranged as usual, and in operation the feed-roll advances the fibers to the teeth of the licker-in cylinder 3, and the feed-plate supports the fibers against the action of the said teeth. The body of the licker-in cylinder is formed with spiral grooves extending around its periphery, and the toothed strips or wires with which such cylinder is clothed are wound in the said grooves, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 6, as is commonly the case in the construction of the like cylinders in practice.

In Fig. 4, illustrating the prior invention, saw-toothed strips or wires of the respective forms represented in Figs. 2 and 3 are wound in alternate grooves of the licker-in cylinder. The cleaning or combing teeth of the strip or wire of Fig. 2 are designated. 31, 31, etc., they having faces which, as hereinbefore stated, rake backward from the advancing surface of the cylinder. The carrying teeth of the strip or wire shown in Fig. 3 are designated 32,32, etc., they having faces which, as

already explained, rake forward from the said surface.

In the case of the cleaning cylinder embodying the present invention, that is, having a backwardly raking cleaning or combing tooth 31 immediately in front of a forwardly raking carrying tooth 32 as exemplified by Figs. 5 and 6, the operation is, in general, the same as in the case of the cylinder of Fig. 4,

or shields the tooth 32 from contact with defective or foreign matters, and thereby prevents the tooth 32 from engaging with the said matters and carrying them forward, and the further addition that tooth 31 also shields tooth 32 from contact with the fibers that are being advanced by the feeding devices until such fibers, after having been cleaned and straightened, have been released from the grasp of the feeding devices. So long as the fibers continue in such grasp, the carrying tooth, in following in the path of the cleaning or combing tooth, passes freely among the cleaned and straightened fibers, but as soon as fibers are released by the feed ing devices they are drawn forward'and carried around by the cylinder 3. The tops of the drawing teeth may be pointed as at 32 in Fig. 3 or flat as at 32 in Fig. 5. Other cleaning teeth in addition to the one which in Fig. 5 is used as a guard to the drawing tooth may be formed on the wire with the latter, and as indicated in Fig. 6 one or more wires formed with cleaning teeth only, as in Fig. 2, may be wound upon the cylinder in alternation with a wire or wires formed with both cleaning teeth and drawing teeth. The flat tops of the teeth 32 in Fig. 5 cooperate with the cleaning or combing teeth arranged as shields or guards for the carrying teeth, in protecting the points of the latter from contact with the advancing fibers held in the grasp of the feeding devices, and from engaging with the fibers until after the latter have been cleaned and straightened and have passed from the grasp of the feeding devices.

The invention, in its broad phase, is. not limited to the use of toothed wire for clothing the cylinder. The invention, however, involves the idea of forming backwardly raking cleaning or combing teeth, 31, 31, etc., and carrying teeth 32, 32, etc., in alternating succession on a single strip or wire, as inFig.

5, with a cleaning or combing tooth arranged, as aforesaid, in position with relation to a carrying tooth to act as a shield or guard for the latter.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for preparing fibers for spinning, the combination with means for feeding or advancing fibers gradually and holding them while being acted upon by a succeeding cylinder until delivered up to the latter, of the said cylinder furnished with toothed clothing having carrying teeth and also having cleaning or combing teeth with faces which rake back from the advancing surface of the cylinder, with the said cleaning or combing teeth arranged to act as shields or guards for the carrying teeth.

cleaning or combing tooth with backwardly tooth a cleaning or combing tooth to act as raking face, and an adjacent carrying tooth, a shield or guard for the carrying tooth. 10 and having the said cleaning or combing In testimony whereof I affix my signature tooth arranged as a shield or guard for the in presence of two witnesses. 5 carrying tooth. MICHAEL COLLINS.

3. A toothed wire for clothing cylinders Witnesses: for machines for preparing fibers, having a CHAS. F. RANDALL, carrying tooth and having in the lead of such EDITH J. ANDERSON. 

